Can my favorite Game Boy gadget tell fake cartridges from real?

The $50 Epilogue GB Operator has a brand-new instrumentality up its sleeve. In summation to backing up Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges and saves to a PC (and penning saves backmost to carts again!), it tin now plug into your telephone pinch a brand-new Retrace app for Android and iOS. The idea: cheque if cartridges are legit, and really overmuch they’re worth, earlier you bargain aliases waste them.

Is it reliable? I plugged astir 50 cartridges into the app, and… it could usage immoderate work. While astir of my English and Japanese room was detected without a hitch, it besides called a fewer counterfeit cartridges “authentic,” a number of authentic cartridges “counterfeit” aliases “possible counterfeit,” and astir a tenth of my cartridges required aggregate scans to observe thing astatine all. One legit cartridge ne'er managed to scan.

You don’t person to return my connection for it, because I took rather a fewer photos on the way! Here’s a assemblage pinch captions:

I deliberation Epilogue should person stuck to its previous terminology of “Official,” “Unofficial” and “Unrecognized” alternatively of “authentic” and “counterfeit,” because a romhack aliases a new crippled from Incube8 aliases ModRetro is still “authentic” moreover if it wasn’t released by Nintendo. The “confidence percentages” look silly too; I ne'er saw a people little than 95 percent, and the people changes moreover if you scan the aforesaid cartridge again.

But I do really for illustration the thought of knowing what a crippled is, and what it’s worth, simply by plugging it in. The value would decidedly prevention maine a search, and the recognition mightiness travel successful useful for games pinch titles I can’t publication — either because they’re successful a connection I don’t speak, aliases because they’re presently missing their label. Maybe Analogue could adhd links to reviews aliases video clips truthful group tin observe titles they’d for illustration to play?

For now, it seems the only foolproof measurement to genuinely place a legit Nintendo Game Boy cart is pinch a screwdriver (GameBit 3.8mm for GB/GBC, tri-wing Y0 for GBA) a crisp eye, and a hunt for the alphanumeric codification connected the ROM chip. But the adjacent champion point is to look for a two-digit number imprinted into the cart’s label. See examples of some successful my gallery.

BTW, I’m looking very guardant to trying the SN Operator, the Super Nintendo / Super Famicom scholar from the aforesaid company, coming retired adjacent month. It will besides beryllium compatible pinch this app.